NEW DELHI: A newly constructed building, which was set to operate as the Burns and Plastic Surgery Block at the AIIMS here, will now be used temporarily as a dedicated facility for treating COVID-19 patients.
The decision by the AIIMS authorities comes after Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday said that Delhi will need 1.5 lakh beds in healthcare facilities by July 31 once people start coming to the city for treatment from other states.
Officials said the 100 bed-facility, which is located next to the AIIMS Trauma Centre, is being readied for the care of coronavirus infected patients and is likely to be functional by the weekend.
"The construction work of the Burns and Plastic Surgery Block was near completion. The work was expedited and we have now got it readied by adding around 100 beds for the treatment of COVID-19 patients. It is likely to be functional by the weekend," AIIMS Deputy Director, Subhasish Panda, said.
Two of the AIIMS establishments --- the Trauma Centre and the National Cancer Institute-India (NCI) at Jhajjar --- are already functioning as dedicated COVID-19 facilities.
"Now the Burns and Plastic Surgery Block will also be made operational for the treatment of coronavirus infected patients.
"If we convert more of our blocks for COVID care then the treatment of seriously ill non-COVID patients will suffer," AIIMS Medical Superintendent, Dr D K Sharma, said.
According to AIIMS chief spokesperson Dr Aarti Vij, 2,301 admissions were recorded at its Jai Prakash Narayan Apex Trauma Centre and National Cancer Institute-India (NCI) in Jhajjar during the lockdown period between March 25 and May 31.
On an average, around 800 coronavirus-infected patients are admitted to the AIIMS on any given day, she said.
AIIMS Trauma centre has around 250 beds and 221 patients are currently undergoing treatment for coronavirus infection at the facility.
Besides, there is an arrangement of 750 beds at the NCI, Jhajjar and over 553 patients are admitted there at present.
Delhi's COVID-19 tally rose to 32,810, while the death toll mounted to 984, according to the Union health ministry's data updated on Thursday 8 am.
Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain had said on Monday that the current doubling rate of coronavirus infection transmission here is 14 days and so the national capital by that estimation will see over 56,000 cases by the end of next two weeks.
It has been over two months that AIIMS has shut down its OPD services and curtailed all elective surgeries as part of its efforts to redirect its resources to control the COVID-19 outbreak.